Home in Time for Tea
by KifKathleen
Summary: Worlds of possibilities open to Rose when she discovers a key difference between Pete's World and her home universe.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

Some plot points and bits of dialogue respectfully borrowed from the episode "Rose" by Russell T Davies.

* * *

The moment that the news of the explosion at Henrik's flashed across the telly screen, Rose started running. Somewhere dimly in the back of her mind, the Torchwood agent in her knew that this was something the higher-ups should be alerted to. But the rest of her didn't care. Where there was an explosion, there was the Doctor, she was sure of it. And where the Doctor was, there she needed to be. _He's not your Doctor_, the rational part of her brain whispered. _He won't know you; you might not even know him._ But it didn't matter; her feet kept running.

Across the street from the remains of the department store, she leaned against a light pole, gasping for breath, watching the flames shoot high into the sky and then turning to scan the crowds for a familiar face. When she had caught her second wind, still without finding what she was searching for, she started moving again, a brisk but not quite so frantic pace, heading towards the London Eye. In her world, it had been a day – or was it two? Everything had been moving so fast, the timing was blurry – before he had tracked the source of the Nestene Consciousness's signal. But Rose was determined; she would camp out on the bank of the Thames until he showed up. If this was her one chance of finding him, she would wait as long as she had to.

But as it turned out, she didn't have to wait at all. As she ran along the embankment across the river from the Eye, she saw a familiar blue box illuminated by a street lamp. And only a few dozen meters beyond that was a tall man in a leather coat, the blue light of a sonic screwdriver flashing in his hands. She wondered how he had made it here so fast, wondered if this version of the Doctor had managed to snag the head of a mannequin rather than just an arm in the elevator at Henrik's. And then she slowed to a halt as the lamplight caught his face – a face from the past, a face lost to her even longer ago than the Doctor himself, the face she had first seen when a hand had grabbed hers and a Northern accent had told her to run.

The Doctor was slowly turning in a circle, holding the screwdriver out in front of him, as if scanning for something. His glance slid over her dismissively and kept going. Desperate to catch his attention, Rose broke into a run; it was only as she skidded to a stop next to him that she realized she had no idea what to say. Somehow, 'Hi, I know your counterpart from another dimension. Fancy some help battling living plastic?' didn't seem like the best conversation opener. So she blurted out the next thing that popped into her head: "Shop window dummies! They've come to life! They're attacking people in the centre!"

He didn't look up, just mumbled, "So it's started, has it?" He made another full circle with the screwdriver before his head snapped up. "Wait, if they are being animated already, why aren't I picking up the signal?" He threw an accusing look at her as if she were personally responsible for the missing signal. Which in a way she supposed she was, since she knew full well that the attack had not begun, likely wouldn't begin until the Conciousness felt threatened by the Doctor, if this world's pattern followed the other.

"Um…maybe they've stopped for a bit? I've been running a good while."

He seemed to accept that answer and began walking away from her, still scanning for the signal. She trotted after him. "What are you trying to do? Maybe I can help."

"I'm trying to save the world," he snipped, "And you can help by giving me a bit of hush."

_That sounds like the Doctor I know,_ she smiled to herself. She resisted the urge to grab his shoulders and bodily turn him to face the Eye. That would certainly make him suspicious, when what she wanted was to gain his trust. She tried again. Her Doctor never could pass up a chance to show off his brilliance with a bit of exposition, and she gambled that this Doctor would be the same. "It's just… you look like you're searching for something. What is that blinky thing?"

He heaved an exasperated sigh and turned to face her. "The dummies – and all other plastic – are being controlled by an alien entity called the Nestene Consciousness. In order to control them, the Consciousness has to transmit a signal. And to do it on this scale, it needs a big transmitter. Huge. Massive. This – " he waggled the screwdriver between his fingers – "is a sonic screwdriver, and this is how I am going to track the signal to the transmitter, find the Nestene Conciousness and stop the destruction of all life on Earth. Well, the screwdriver plus possibly a vial of anti-plastic, but only as a last resort."

"Oh." She made sure to look suitably impressed. It wasn't hard. Even knowing what she already knew about sonic screwdrivers and Nestene Consciousnesses, well…the Doctor just simply _was_ impressive. "So, huge transmitter…kind of like a giant satellite dish, yeah?"

"Yes, I suppose so." He was back to the scanning again.

"So, kind of like that, then?" She pointed to the Eye. He followed her finger, stared blankly for a moment, and then his face split into the manic grin that she had missed so much.

"Oh. Fantastic!"

* * *

On the other side of the river, he stopped to look around. "The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."

"What about down here?" she pointed over the railing at a concrete bulkhead , just as she had…had it really only been four years ago? It felt like ages – another lifetime in another universe.

"Looks good to me." He ran down the stairs, unscrewed the hatch cover of the bulkhead, climbed halfway in, and then stopped. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Nice to meet you, Rose Tyler. Now run for your life!" And with that he vanished down the hole.

"Oh, in your dreams, Doctor. You're gonna need me!" she muttered, more to herself than to him, as she climbed down after him.

* * *

It was so surreal, Rose reflected, this feeling of déjà vu, everything so foreign and so familiar at the same time. There was no Mickey to rescue, that much had changed; not that her fellow Torchwood agent needed much rescuing these days, she thought with pride. But the Doctor's demeanor, his invocation of the Shadow Proclamation, his approach to the Nestene Consciousness – all that was replaying like a movie before her eyes. She had half a mind to save everyone a lot of trouble, snatch the anti-plastic from his jacket pocket and chuck it at the Consciousness right away. But she restrained herself. It wasn't the Doctor's way, making a preemptive strike. If she had learned anything from him, it was that each person deserved a chance, a choice, an opportunity to do the right thing. Maybe this Consciousness would be more reasonable than the one of her world.

But no such luck. Events continued to unfold just as they had before – the capture of both the Doctor and his anti-plastic, the Consciousness's panic and fury at the discovery of the TARDIS, the beaming of the signal that would turn all the shop-window dummies of London into killing machines. But this time, Rose was prepared. The instant the signal went out, the instant the Consciousness had made its irrevocable choice, Rose was swinging on the rope that she had already loosened. The anti-plastic hit its mark with a satisfying plop, and then this Doctor was catching her around the waist just as her Doctor had, and giving her his trademark grin. "Now we're in trouble!"

* * *

As they burst through the doors of the TARDIS, the Doctor dropped Rose's hand and headed straight for the console. "Now just hush for a minute while I get us out of here, and then you can have your culture-shock breakdown, yeah?"

She didn't reply, grateful for having a couple of moments to herself as a wave of nostalgia crashed into her, filling her eyes and clenching her throat. She slowly paced the perimeter of the room, keeping her back to him so he wouldn't see the emotions playing out across her face, running her hand lovingly over the coral struts, everything looking so close to her memories and yet just different enough to remind her that she wasn't home, not really.

Finally, as a whooshing noise signaled their dematerialization, he turned to her, leaning back against the console, crossing arms and ankles. "Right, then, where do you want to start?"

"She's beautiful," Rose murmured a bit thickly. She cleared her throat and managed to say more clearly, "What do you call her?"

It wasn't a disingenuous question; she wondered how great the similarities were between her world and his. She felt something almost like a sense of relief when he replied, "It's a TARDIS. That stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

"So you and she do a good bit of traveling, then?"

"Fair bit, yeah."

"All alone, are you? Do you have any…traveling companions?" She looked around as if someone might pop up from behind a strut.

There was a long silence after this question, and she finally chanced a glance at him from the corner of her eye. He was staring at her with a rather bemused smile. "You know, this isn't the normal reaction I get from my guests."

His teasing tone was enough to snap her out of her maudlin mood. With a final blink away of her tears, she was able to turn to face him with a smile of her own. "Oh yeah? And what reaction am I supposed to have?"

"It's bigger on the inside?"

"Oh." Her eyes widened in surprise. The TARDIS had been her home for so long, it hadn't even occurred to her to comment on that feature. She recovered with a cheeky grin. "Well, you know, alien technology and all that – it doesn't really seem all that surprising that you could cram this much space inside."

"Oi! Who said anything about alien?"

"Oh yes," she rolled her eyes, "Because 'sonic screwdriver' and 'Shadow Proclamation' and 'Nestene Consciousness' are such common parts of human vocabulary."

"Seem to roll off your tongue easily enough," he retorted.

"I was paying attention. And I'm a quick study." She grinned at him with her tongue between her teeth, and his bemused smile grew. "Anyway, I'm right, she is alien, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"And you as well?"

"Yes. Is that all right?" This last said so seriously that it threw her off-balance.

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" she asked in genuine surprise.

"You just met an alien that was bent on killing you and most of the world. Might make some people a bit skittish."

She shrugged. "I was mugged a few years back, doesn't mean I cringe at every bloke that passes me on the street."

He studied her intently for a moment, then the broad grin returned. "You are an interesting one, Rose Tyler."

"I could say the same about you, Doctor. And you still haven't answered my question. You are traveling alone?"

"Not usually. I have a mate that comes with, but he's off visiting his family for a few days. I just happened to run across the Nestene Consciousness while I was looking for something to pass the time."

She felt a pang of disappointment. When she had first seen news of the explosion and realized that the Doctor was in town, she had sprung into action without quite thinking of what outcome she expected or even wanted. Part of her felt a desperate hunger to reclaim some of the life she had had before, to see new stars and experience grand adventures. But another part wondered if her heart could bear to spend so much time with a man who was not the one she loved and yet so very much like him. Regardless, it would be nice to at least be offered the choice. But if the Doctor already had a companion… _You've had three in the TARDIS before,_ she reminded herself. But every time, she had been the one to advocate for the inclusion of the third. Without a shared history with this Doctor, could she convince him to take her on? Did she even want to try? What was her goal here? She swallowed down the bile in her throat, pasted on a fake smile, and continued nonchalantly, "And so now that you've saved the planet from the terrible plastic monster, where are you off to next, Doctor?"

"Oh, I don't know." He turned back to the console and began fiddling with random controls. "The tenth moon of Darvion Major? The desert planet of Villansegel? It's a whole big universe out there. Although – and I'm not quite sure why I'm telling you all this, interesting Miss Tyler – I have half a mind to stop by and see my family for a jot."

Her jaw dropped. "Your family?"

"Yeah, my friend was waxing nostalgic about seeing his family, and it got me thinking that it's been a wee bit since I've seen my mum and dad. Probably time to pop back home and see how they're doing."

"You have family? Actual, honest-to-God blood relatives? On your home planet?"

"Of course. What, did you think I was spawned on the TARDIS?" He finally turned around and saw the shock written across her face, and started to laugh. "Wait a minute, you accept living plastic and a bigger-on-the-inside timeship with an alien pilot without batting an eye, but the idea of me having a mum and dad throws you for a loop?"

"Well, I just…I…" she sputtered, scrambling to recover, "I thought maybe you travel around so much because you don't have a home to go back to." Her mind was spinning. Maybe he meant he was going to travel back in time, to a point when they were all still alive. But that didn't sound like the Doctor she knew. The pain of his loss coupled with the danger of crossing timelines kept him far from that thought.

He was still laughing. "Of course I have a home. I travel because I like to, because it's fascinating. Easily bored, me."

"So what's it called, then, your planet?" she asked, more to see his reaction than to hear the answer she already knew.

"Gallifrey. In the constellation Kasterborus." Her Ninth Doctor had never been able to speak that name to her. And the Tenth had only said it once, in a fit of maudlin nostalgia one night after too much Spirvalian wine. But this Doctor – it rolled easily off his tongue, without a hint of accompanying angst. In that instant she was sure: this Doctor had not lost everything as hers had; he was not the last of the Time Lords.

An insistent beeping from the console drew the Doctor's attention, and Rose was left alone with her racing thoughts for a moment. _Not the last of his kind after all. Not alone, not cut off, not wracked with survivor's guilt. A family, a home, other Time Lords to share his world. _And then she nearly staggered as a memory hit her, a conversation that Mickey had once told her about, something the Doctor had told him on their first visit to Pete's World. _"When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could pop between realities, home in time for tea." _But here she was in a world teeming with Time Lords; somewhere there was a whole planet chock full of them_._ Suddenly the goal that had been so amorphous just a moment before became crystal clear. "Doctor?" Her voice sounded a bit strangled, and she cleared her throat and tried again. "Doctor? I think there's something that you should know about me."

For a second, she thought he hadn't heard her; then he looked up from the console, blue eyes boring into hers. "Is it that you are from another universe?"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

* * *

"Wha-? How did you…?"

"That's what the TARDIS is telling me. Unless she's fried a circuit in her old age." He punched a few more buttons and whacked something with a mallet. "Nope, she's still insisting. Says your energy signature is foreign to this dimension. But that's impossible!" He pointed an accusing finger. "_You_ are impossible, Rose Tyler."

She laughed weakly. "Not impossible, just…highly improbable."

She bit back a yelp of surprise as he was suddenly inches away from her, running the sonic screwdriver across her face, his eyes lit up with the excitement of novelty and discovery. "You're scanning as human," he said after a moment, sounding vaguely disappointed.

"Yep, that's me, very much human, as a mate of mine used to like to point out all the time."

"But twenty-first century humans don't have dimension-hopping capabilities. So…future, then?"

"Nope. Twenty-first century born and bred. Well, not really, I mean, born and bred in the twentieth, actually, but I got to the twenty-first on the slow path."

He didn't appear to be listening to that bit of rambling, just smacked his forehead with his palm. "Wait, what am I saying? Future humans can't dimension-hop either. There is no species of any time that can travel between dimensions, not without tearing a hole in the universe."

"Time Lords can." She noted with satisfaction how he stilled, eyes widened, and took a step back when she named his race. It wasn't too often she could elicit that kind of surprise from the Doctor.

He studied her for a long moment, and then broke into another grin. "So I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that this isn't your first time in a TARDIS."

She grinned back. "Not my first TARDIS. Not my first Time Lord. Actually, not even my first Doctor."

She had managed to shock him again. _Twice within ten seconds. Not bad for a human, Rose Tyler._ "Wait, you know the me of another universe?"

"First time I met him, he saved me from getting me head chopped off by plastic dummies in Henrik's. And then I repaid the favor when we met the Nestene Consciousness. That's how I was pretty sure of where to find you, once I realized the same story was happening here."

"Well, that explains how you managed to think so quickly on your feet down there." He hooked a thumb vaguely in what she supposed was meant to be the direction of the now-defunct Consciousness.

"Oi! I thought quickly the first time around, too, thank you very much! Bloomin' great Time Lord brain, and neither of you can even see the gigantic transmitter right smack in front of you. At least he had the good grace to thank me for saving his sorry rear."

The Doctor managed a chagrined smile. "Quite right. Thank you, Rose Tyler. You were fantastic in there." He paused, then continued quietly, "So this other Doctor…did he just leave you here, then?"

She sighed. "That, mate, is a very long story. It would take a bit of time."

He settled back against the console and folded his arms. "I'm a Time _Lord_."

"Right." She sighed again, then hopped up into the jump seat. "Guess I might as well get comfortable…"

* * *

It was a long story, and it was painful to tell. The first accidental crash-landing, the one responsible for her contamination with Voidstuff; the Cybermen, whose existence was news to this Doctor ("You need to keep a closer eye on us, visit more often, mate; Earth needs you," she chided affectionately); Mickey's decision to stay and carry on the fight; the breaking through of the Cybermen and the Daleks to her world; the epic battle between them and the Doctor's desperate plan to halt it; her last-minute rescue from the suction of the Void by her parallel father. But she prided herself that she had managed to get through most of it without choking up. At least until the very end of the Battle of Canary Wharf. There was no way she could recount that without tears. She didn't even attempt to talk about Bad Wolf Bay.

* * *

The Doctor stared down at the fragile human, the silence broken only by her shuddering breaths as she tried to control the sobs that wanted to break forth. Was she always weepy like this? Her story made clear how she had gotten here, but not why she was still here. Although she hadn't said it in so many words, her feelings for her Doctor were obvious, even to him to whom human reactions were so often a fascinating mystery. Maybe she had gotten too clingy and he had seen the chance to take back his freedom, free from guilt, leaving her safely in the arms of her family. _She wasn't clingy back there when you were dealing with the Consciousness,_ part of him reprimanded. _She didn't play the damsel in distress. She was collected and competent and she got the job done without fuss. _But the fact remained, however accidental or even tragic the circumstances of her landing in this universe were, this other Doctor had not come for her, had not tried to bring her back.

She looked up at that moment, swiping with embarrassment at her tears, and managed in something akin to her normal voice, "But now that I've found you, you and the other Time Lords – you can get me back where I belong, can't you?"

His stomach knotted at the hope glistening in her eyes. Sure he could, but would the other him thank him for it? He himself had had many companions over the course of his travels. He had felt affection for them all, and some he missed more than others, but there was none from whom he would have welcomed the desperate yearning that Rose so clearly felt, nor for whom he would have returned the feeling. Wasn't she better off here, with a mother and a surrogate father and a best friend, than traipsing off to another universe in search of someone who clearly couldn't be bothered searching for her? Even if she didn't have a propensity for clingy domesticity, the other Doctor must have good reasons for not wanting her back. He cleared his throat. "Rose, this is going to come out sounding much harsher than I mean it to, but…if you belong with him, why doesn't he come get you himself?"

She stared down at her hands for a moment, and he wondered if the truth of rejection had finally hit her. But when she looked up again, there was a fire in her eyes, a blazing pain, and the Doctor instinctively knew that it was not sorrow for herself but for another, for one she loved so deeply that his pain was hers. "He can't. He would if he could, but he can't. He said that it needed Time Lords to travel between universes."

"Yes." But her Doctor was a Time Lord, wasn't he? He was confused.

"Time Lords, plural."

"Yes." He wasn't quite sure where this was going.

"In our universe, there are no more Time Lords. He is the last one. He is all alone."

He had to grip the console to keep from staggering. "How…how is that possible?" His brain, his gigantic, brilliant brain that could perceive the whole fabric of space and time, was having trouble wrapping itself around this concept of aloneness, of singularity.

"There was a war. A Time War. Between the Time Lords and the Daleks." His breath hissed out at that name. He had had his own bad experiences with Daleks. But, he suddenly suspected, nothing like his counterpart had had. "They were all destroyed. Everyone. All the Daleks – well, nearly all. All the Time Lords. Gallifrey. All gone. The Doctor was the only survivor."

"Gallifrey…?" he whispered.

"Burned, he said. Time Lords – extinct." Gone was the fragile, weeping woman. Her voice was harsh, merciless. She was trying to make him feel what the other felt. "No stopping off for a visit home, no popping in to see mum and dad. And no one to help him travel to this universe to retrieve the one person left who truly knows him, who makes him feel like he belongs somewhere, belongs to someone, is connected to the world. Try to imagine, just try to feel what that feels like to him, what it is like to be completely alone in the universe, alone in your own head." She was out of her seat now, standing in front of him, and she laid her palms against his hearts, and he could feel it, feel the isolation and the horror and the despair choking him as if they were his own. "I am pleading with you, take me back there, for my sake, yes, but for his too, because he could be you. Because he _is _you."

He stared, mesmerized, for a moment, and then gently caught her hands in his. "It's not easy. I don't know what he told you, how he made it sound, but it's a complicated, tricky process."

"But it's possible?"

He hesitated another moment, but he couldn't hold out against the fierce determination in her unwavering gaze. He suddenly broke out into the huge grin, the one she remembered so well, the one that said, '_This will be hard, and this will be dangerous, and won't that be fantastic fun?'_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

If my explanation of how Time Lords can travel interdimensionally contradicts any canon that I am unaware of, well, let's just call it AU.

* * *

One week later, Rose was standing in front of the TARDIS, duffel bag on her shoulder. The Doctor had said that he needed some time to make the arrangements. And truth be told, despite her eagerness to see her Doctor again, she had needed some time as well. There would be no coming back from this adventure, and she owed it to everyone to tie up loose ends before she left.

She had asked her family and Mickey to come with her, but had not been at all surprised when they turned down the offer. This was Pete Tyler's world, after all, and that made it Jackie's world as well, especially now with the baby binding them together. And Mickey had his gran and his work at Torchwood, giving him a sense of direction and purpose that he had never found back in the Powell Estates.

What did surprise her was how easily they had accepted her decision. Oh, there had been plenty of tears and plenty of hugs, but very little attempt to change her mind. They would miss her terribly, but everyone knew where she belonged. She had built an amazing life in this universe, one that would make the Doctor beam with pride, but they all understood that her rightful place was at his side. "Just think of it," Mickey had told her with a bittersweet smile at their final farewell. "The Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS. All is right with the universes once again."

And so with a deep breath, she raised her hand to knock on the door, but it flew open before she had the chance. "Ah, you're here, fantastic! Welcome! Come on in! Rose Tyler, meet my friend, Adam Mitchell."

She stepped through the door and then froze momentarily as she was confronted with a face she had never expected to see again. Without a word, but with a look to rival that of the Oncoming Storm, she marched up the ramp, ignoring Adam's extended hand, and snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. He blinked in surprise, and then turned to the Doctor. "Eh, you didn't mention that she's a bit off her rocker."

"Well, you don't have a door in your head, that's something," she said, her hostile expression thawing by only a degree or two.

"No, I don't suppose I do. Why, do you? Is that like a thing back in your world?" he asked, confused.

She ignored the question and turned to the Doctor. "He can't come with us. We had him with us for a bit, and he nearly got us all killed in this giant broadcasting station because he decided to get a port installed in his head so that he could download future technology secrets and resell them."

The Doctor watched her calmly, compassionately. "Remember, Rose: different universe, different person, different choices."

"Wait," said Adam behind her with an incredulous laugh. "Do you mean Satellite Five? What was that, the Fifth Great and Beauteous Human Empire?" ("Fourth Great and Bountiful," corrected the Doctor automatically.) "Yeah, that was my first trip with the Doctor. I remember those people with the holes in their foreheads. Freaky things, those. Don't think I wasn't tempted for a just a moment, all that science and technology just waiting to be downloaded, but to have that kind of knowledge 200,000 years too early…well, who knows how it could tear apart the whole course of human history."

Rose turned back to him, surprised. "You got that? You really got it? The other Adam had no idea what he had almost done, even after the Doctor explained it to him. Actually tried to blame the Doctor for not keeping a better eye on him."

"Adam's been with me for a year now, Rose," the Doctor said softly. "He's a fantastic companion. I trust him with my universe; you can trust him with yours."

She studied the Companion in question for another moment, and finally her face softened and she held out her hand. "Right. Sorry, mate. It was just a shock to see that face again."

"No hard feelings."

"Right, then." She looked to the Doctor. "So how does this whole interdimensional traveling work exactly?"

The tension broken, the Doctor grinned and bounced over to the console. "All right, well, picture the fabric of the universe as some piece of knitting. Like a scarf or a cap. You try to just shove something through it, and you're going to tear a hole, or at the very least warp it out of shape, right? But if you are very careful and you tug just right on the yarn, you can create a space and slip something through, and then you massage and tug in another direction and you can close the space back up, yeah?" Rose nodded her comprehension. "Right, so there are four TARDISes out there right now and they are tugging in four directions to create a little slot for us to slide through. We pop across to your universe, deposit you with your Doctor, and then slide back through the same spot in space and time. The other Time Lords massage their threads of the fabric back to the proper place, and the hole closes up as if it were never there."

"And this TARDIS will still have power? We lost power when we came here because she couldn't use the energy of this universe."

"As long as my people are holding the hole open, she'll be able to continue drawing energy from home. The tricky part is the navigation. I've got to hit the exact right point in space and time twice – on the way there and on the way back."

Thinking of her Doctor's sometimes questionable navigation skills, Rose's smile faltered a bit, but she managed brightly, "If anyone can do it, it's you, Doctor." He beamed under her praise, looking so like her Doctor that her heart clenched. _Soon. You'll see him soon._ "So how did you convince four Time Lords to help some human girl they'd never heard of?"

"Four? Try twenty-four. Each TARDIS has six pilots. I told the Council that you were a space-time anomaly that had the potential to cause the collapse of the universe if you weren't returned to your proper place."

"And they bought that?" she asked incredulously.

"Oi, I don't know that it was that far off from the truth! I saw the look in your eyes. If we didn't take you back, I think you would have found a way to punch right through the Void all by yourself," he told her with a grin. "Although truth be told, they probably mostly agreed so that they could show off their space-time-manipulating skills. But no matter, they're here now. Are you ready?"

She couldn't even speak, just gave a squeak of excitement and nodded.

"Well then, hold tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

* * *

He hadn't been kidding. Travel in the TARDIS was rarely smooth, but this trip was downright bone-jarring. Only a few minutes had passed before the timeship settled into the comfortable rhythm of temporal orbit in the Vortex, but Rose had thought her teeth were going to rattle out of her head by then. Adam was the first to speak, although his voice was a bit strained. "Right, then, glad that's behind us. So where are we?"

"In the Vortex of Rose's dimension." The Doctor sounded like his normal self, but the paleness of his face and the sheen of perspiration on his forehead testified to how stressful the piloting had been.

"Really? We're really here? You're sure it's the right universe?" she questioned eagerly.

"Doubting me, are you? Let me double-check…Yes, the TARDIS says that your energy signature is aligned with this universe. You're home, Rose."

She squealed and launched herself into his arms; he laughed and spun her around. "Uh, not to throw a damper on the party, but it's a big universe. We still have to track this Doctor down," Adam warned.

"Oh, nothing easier! All TARDISes are linked, so we just have to lock ours onto the signal from his." The Doctor let go of Rose and bounced back to the console. "Here we go, old girl, go find yourself a new friend and…oh."

"Oh? What oh? That didn't sound like a good oh." Rose's high spirits faded instantly.

"Uh, well, she's not picking up any other signals."

She felt like someone had just knocked the wind out of her. "Did something happen? It's been so long, and he's always skating on the edge of disaster. Something has happened to him, to the TARDIS, hasn't it?" Hysteria began rising within her.

The Doctor gripped her shoulders. "Calm down, Rose. No use jumping to conclusions. It's much more likely that the link simply doesn't work transdimensionally."

"What about contacting him telepathically?" Adam supplied helpfully.

"Brilliant! I'll need a bit of peace; it could take a few minutes to reach him depending on when and where he is." He hopped up onto the jump seat and closed his eyes, brow furrowed in concentration. Rose paced back and forth, staring at him, for what seemed like an eternity, before he finally looked up. The instant their eyes met, she could tell by the compassion in his gaze that he had had no success.

"He's dead, isn't he?" she whispered, tears blinding her.

"Rose Tyler!" he said sharply. "I didn't take you for a pessimist! Tell me, how did I know you were from another dimension?" When she didn't answer, he demanded, "Come on, you can't have forgotten already. How did I know?"

In a small voice, she replied, "My energy signature was wrong."

"Right. Incompatible. Well, my TARDIS and I are in the wrong universe right now. Hardly a surprise that we would be incompatible. Just because we can't sense him doesn't mean he's not here, not by half."

He was right. No one had ever called Rose Tyler a pessimist. Even at that brief speech, she could feel the hope surging within her again. She blinked back the tears and managed a small but genuine smile.

"Uh, again, sorry to be the killjoy, but the fact remains that this bloke could be literally anywhere in time and space. So how do we find him?" Adam pointed out. There was a brief pause while they all contemplated this question, then Adam offered, "You're his counterpart. Where would you be right now?"

"Oi, what has that got to do with anything? Your counterpart went and put a door in his head. I have no idea what whims could seize this bloke at any given moment."

"How did you find the Nestene Consciousness?" Rose blurted.

"What was that?" He swung around to her, confusion on his face.

"You told me that you just stumbled across the Nestene Consciousness. How did you do it? How did you realize it was there?"

He still looked puzzled as to where this was going. "Rose, you said he's already battled the Nestene Consciousness here. We can't take you back to that version of him, it would throw the timelines completely off."

"I know that," she said impatiently, "Just tell me how you found it."

"Well, I was just fiddling around with the TARDIS, and I picked up this transmission. Couldn't tell exactly what it was, but I knew it wasn't 21st century Earth. So I went investigating, traced the signal back."

"Wait," she laughed, "Are you telling me that you found it by scanning for alien tech?"

"Uh, I suppose that's one way of putting it…"

"Oh, I love that!" She flung her arms around his neck, and then let go quickly, deciding that she was spending entirely too much time hugging a man who was not her Doctor but looked just like him. "Well, he's just as much of a magnet for trouble as you are. And he spends a good deal of time hanging around Earth. So I say that's as good a place as any to start. We go to 21st century Earth; we scan for alien tech; if we find something, we check it out; and I'll bet you anything we run into my Doctor doing the same thing."

The two men considered this for a moment and then broke into matching smiles. "Fantastic!"


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

Some plot points and bits of dialogue respectfully borrowed from the episode "Partners in Crime" by Russell T Davies. With apologies to Donna Noble, who I'm sure will find the Doctor someday, just not today.

* * *

The Doctor checked his reflection in the glass of the security door, straightening his tie and smoothing his wind-blown hair, before sonicking his way inside the headquarters of Adipose Industries. He noted with some detachment that there was a bit of a spring in his step as he moved down the corridor. He had sometimes been accused of having a morbid glee when facing disasters, but he knew that wasn't quite true. It wasn't that he enjoyed danger for its own sake. Partly it was that having a problem to solve, lives to save, made him feel that his own life still had meaning and purpose. And partly it was that the wave of adrenaline made him feel alive, lifted the detritus of his soul: the loneliness and the guilt and the sorrow that sometimes threatened to crush him. When the wave eventually ebbed, the flotsam would settle back down, but there was always the hope that some small piece of it would have been carried away.

With a companion, he was content to be still, to enjoy the quiet moments of life: to gaze for hours at the frozen seascape of Woman Wept, or to watch the triple moonrise over the mountains of Kindala. But alone, he needed to stay in motion, to fill the void inside his head and his hearts. And he was alone again now. Martha, kind, brave, clever Martha, had saved his life, saved the whole world, and then left him, gone home to pick up the pieces of her life. In a way, he thought that her loss stung more than Rose's, because it had been of her own volition. He probed that thought for a moment, poking at it like a tongue at a sore tooth, and then changed his mind. No, losing Rose was definitely worse.

The thing that by turns frustrated and fascinated him was that he had never actually offered Rose any more than he had offered Martha. _More fool, me._ And yet, unlike Martha, Rose had never tired of waiting for him to come around. She had promised him forever; she had even chosen him over her own family until the choice had been literally pulled from her grasp. She had been content to wait patiently, never pushing him for more than he was comfortable in giving. _More fool, her._ But no, he caught himself, he didn't mean that, not about his Rose. Occasionally foolish, yes, but never a fool.

Because, as she had somehow instinctively seemed to understand, if she had pushed him…well, he imagined that at the time, it would have sent him running in the opposite direction. He had been so damaged, so shattered, so doubtful that he could bring anything to a relationship besides the promise of adventures in the TARDIS. Come to that, he was still damaged and doubtful. But now that he knew what it was to live without Rose, if he could cross his own timeline and start all over again, he couldn't imagine wasting a moment of that second chance.

These thoughts carried him up several flights of stairs. At every landing, he poked his head out of the stairwell door, until finally on the fourth floor he found a promising prospect: rows of cubicles filled with sales reps pitching their goods. He strode confidently down the aisle – he had long since learned that a confident stride would carry him nearly as far as the psychic paper – and stopped at a cube containing a young woman. He flashed the psychic paper at her as he slid into the spare seat, and whispered over her phone spiel, "John Smith, Health and Safety. Don't mind me."

She was just wrapping up a call, and turned to him questioningly when it was done, but he waved a dismissive hand at her. "No, really, carry on. I'm just here to observe." He sat attentively through her next pitch about the science behind the pills and the money-back guarantee and the easy payment installments and the bonus offer of a gold pendant. "That pendant," he told her as soon as she ended the call, "I'll need one for a sample."

She slid open a drawer to reveal a heap of white cardboard jewelry boxes. "Take anything you'd like. Is there…something else I can do for you?"

He slipped one of the boxes into his pocket, wondering why her face-to-face voice seemed an octave lower than her phone voice and why she was batting her eyelashes like that. Perhaps she had something in her eye. He opened his mouth to ask, but he seemed to hear Rose's voice in his head, whispering _Rude_, so he changed it to, "A copy of your customer list would be lovely, yeah."

She looked vaguely disappointed. "We have a million customers in the London area."

He waved airily. "Oh, I think just a hundred random names would be fine. Where is the printer?" She pointed across the aisle, and he flashed her a brilliant smile. "Right, then, if you could just print off the list, I'll be out of your hair." He stood, but she was pressing a slip of paper into his hand. "What's this?"

"My telephone number."

He was completely baffled. "What for?"

"Health and Safety. You be Health, I'll be Safety," she replied with a seductive wink.

Suddenly, the voice and the eyelashes made sense. _Humans and their ridiculous mating rituals._ He nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to escape to the printer, gabbling about protocols and regulations as he went.

He was pulling the last sheet off of the printer when a voice caught his attention, one as familiar as his own because it once _had_ been his own. His keen hearing caught the Northern-accented words, "John Smith, Health and Safety. We just have a few questions for you." _He stole my alias! Well, I say stole, technically it was his first, but I was first here at Adipose._ He looked around, seeking the source of the voice, and then he saw them at the far end of the floor, speaking to someone who was probably the sales manager in the door of her office.

He studied the trio of faux health agents. There was the ninth version of himself, complete with leather jacket and daft ears; it was strange to see himself from the back. Next to Nine was a shorter, dark-haired man who seemed vaguely familiar; but the Doctor couldn't waste time trying to place him, because his gaze had already moved on to what was surely the most glorious sight in the universe – in any universe. He couldn't see her face from where he stood, but he would know that thick golden hair, that lithe form, anywhere. For a moment, all he could do was drink in the sight of her; it wasn't until he felt his respiratory bypass kick in that he realized he had forgotten even to breathe. He sent a silent plea for her to turn around, but as she started to do so, he panicked and dove for the relative safety of the cubicle he had just left.

His would-be date looked up, startled by his sudden reappearance. He gave her a smile that was meant to be winning but in reality was probably closer to sickly. "Uh, you see," he groped for a reason for his return, "Well…It just occurred to me that regulations are meant to be broken." Her eyes widened and she smiled, but gestured to her headset to indicate that she was on another call. "Oh, carry on, take your time." It was fine with him if she took all day. He needed a few moments to sort out his racing thoughts.

He wasn't quite sure why his instinct had been to hide from Rose. He was from her future, so there was no way that she, or even Nine himself, would recognize him. But then he thought about the naked longing that she would have seen written across his face, and knew he had made the right call. She would not have known who he was, but she would have known that something was off with him. Rose being Rose, she would have wanted to investigate. And he knew he could not have faced her compassionate inquiries, not without blurting out the whole story and possibly bursting into tears to boot. So that was settled, then – he had to avoid Rose at all costs while they were both here at Adipose.

Which raised the question of what she and the Ninth Doctor were doing at Adipose in the first place – he was sure he had never been here before. He risked a peek over the top of the cubicle. Rose had her back to him again, but the other man was looking around. The Doctor took a sharp breath as he recognized the face. _That idiot from Van Statten's museum – Adam something, wasn't it?_ Now he was truly confused. He would have sworn that Platform Five was the only place he had taken Adam before unceremoniously dumping him at home in 2012. There was only one reason that this visit to Adipose Industries would be missing from his vast recollection – he must have intentionally blocked the memories. And why he would have felt the need to do that was a source of concern.

He supposed that he really should just walk away right now. That would be the safest course – move on, let Nine handle things. Less chance of awkward encounters and damage to the space-time continuum. Maybe ancient Rome would be a good next stop. But a large part of his psyche was insisting that this was _his_ find, _his _alien signal to track. _Let Nine find another adventure. He's got Rose – I've got only this_. Even in his own ears this sounded alarmingly like a child on the verge of a tantrum, but he couldn't quite bring himself to care. _Besides_, he reasoned, _if Nine blocked the memories, that means he had seen his future, which probably means he had met up with me_. So really, if he left now, he would be altering his own past, whereas by seeing this through, he was just assuring that his personal history would stay on the course that had already been set. He smiled smugly at the circuitous reasoning that allowed him to do exactly as he wanted in the first place. And then there was the small voice that whispered, _Plus, if you stay, you might accidentally run into Rose in a way that is totally unavoidable and completely not your fault._ He quashed that little voice as firmly as he could – the chance of seeing Rose again was absolutely, positively probably not much of a factor in his decision.

It gradually dawned on him that the sales rep had finished her call and was looking expectantly at him for the answer to a question that he hadn't heard. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I asked what you were doing tonight."

"Oh!" He chanced another peek over the cube and saw that the others had stepped into the manager's office. Now was the time to make a break for it. "Well, you know, as I was sitting here, it dawned on me how much I like my job and how foolish it would be to risk it on a fling, however tempting. Coward, me. Ta!" he called as he bolted for the stairs.

His steps slowed once he was safely in the stairwell. Seeing Rose, even for such a brief moment, had been amazing, but it had also broken open a wound that had only just begun to heal. He imagined that this was what an addict felt after falling off the wagon: the momentary rush of the old familiar drug, then the daunting prospect of going through withdrawal all over again. He sighed and plunged his hands into his pockets, where his fingers encountered the jewelry box. _Just what the doctor ordered,_ he decided, directing his steps toward the TARDIS. Focusing his mind on scientific investigation would surely distract him from the loneliness.

It didn't. Oh sure, his genius brain was able to tease out the secrets of the circuitry hidden in the pendant. It was a bio-flip digital switch, molecularly engineered to key itself to an individual, and he had a good suspicion of what its activation would do, although he would still need to talk with some Adipose customers to confirm it. But it was when, out of long habit, he began to explain these findings aloud, and then looked up to realize he was alone, that the full weight of his isolation crashed in on him. He braced himself on the console, bowed his head, and let the tears fall for the first time since the aborted farewell at Bad Wolf Bay.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

Some plot points and bits of dialogue respectfully borrowed from the episode "Partners in Crime" by Russell T Davies. With apologies to Donna Noble, who I'm sure will find the Doctor someday, just not today.

* * *

Rose fidgeted impatiently. Thirty-six hours back in her home world, and her Doctor felt further from her than ever. They had spent all day poking around Adipose Industries, hoping for some sign of him, but to no avail. And now they were visiting their third customer from the list the sales manager had given them, but Rose didn't see how this was bringing them closer to their goal. All the customers told the same story: thrilled with the results of the pills, no side effects, felt like a new person, blah blah blah. Oh, Stacy Campbell seemed nice enough, and Rose didn't begrudge her her new lease on life, but all this nattering on about finding a better man was chafing her taut nerves. _I already found the best man in the world, but I lost him, and sitting here frittering away time won't help me find him again._

And now Stacy wasn't even in the room; she had popped into the loo to finish preparing for her break-up date. Adam and Nine seemed unperturbed by the lack of progress; Adam was puttering around the living room, inspecting books and photos, while the Doctor played with some sort of triangular device that he had cobbled together to track the signal he had picked up in the TARDIS. Rose alone was left tapping her feet restively. She blew out a frustrated breath and stuffed her hands into her pockets. Her fingers found the pendant that the sales manager had given her as some sort of souvenir of their visit, and she pulled it out of her pocket and began playing with it idly, swinging it around on its chain and twisting it between her fingers.

A moment later, the Doctor's head snapped up, tilted to the side as if homing in on a sound that was beyond Rose's hearing. He looked over at her. "Maybe you should go check on Stacy."

"Why?" she asked irritably. "And why are we still here?"

"It sounds like she's in a bit of…distress," he replied delicately.

"Well, you're a doctor."

"But you're a woman. Just see if she's okay."

With an exasperated sigh, she heaved herself off the couch and headed up the stairs. But halfway there, the sounds of Stacy's moans reached her ears and she quickened her pace, calling the woman's name. By the time she was at the door, she knew something was seriously wrong. "Doctor, come quick!"

But he was already bounding up the stairs, the device in his hands flashing wildly. He didn't even pause to try the door, just kicked it in. And there was Stacy, still on her feet but looking frantic, and a small white blobby creature poised on the windowsill. The blob waved and cooed and then jumped out the window. For a moment, everyone froze. And then suddenly the Doctor's device began going crazy with lights and beeps, and Stacy was writhing and screaming, her skin crawling and bulging with unnatural lumps and swellings.

"Adam, follow that thing!" the Doctor commanded. "Rose, with me." He pulled out the sonic screwdriver, made a quick adjustment, and ran it up and down Stacy's body. "Here, take this, do like I did. It will weaken the signal, buy us some time." He shoved the sonic screwdriver at Rose, and she began imitating his rhythmic scan.

"Help me, oh, please, help!" Stacy wailed.

The Doctor began throwing open cabinets and drawers, muttering, "Think! Think!" He snatched up a hair dryer with a triumphant "Aha!" He plugged the sink and turned on the tap full force. "Screwdriver!" he snapped, and Rose tossed it back to him. Stacy's distress, which had seemed to lessen with the application of the screwdriver, immediately increased. He buzzed the screwdriver at the hair dryer, then plugged the dryer in, turned it on, and thrust it at Rose. He plunged one hand into the water-filled basin and grabbed Stacy's hand with his other. She sensed his intention and screamed louder, trying to pull away. He fixed her with an intense blue gaze that seemed to freeze her in place. "Listen to me, Stacy! You have to trust me or you will die. I won't lie to you - this will hurt. But if you let me, I can save you." She stopped struggling, and he looked grimly up at Rose. "Rose, drop the dryer in the sink, count to five, then pull the plug."

The horror was written across Rose's face, but she had made the decision long ago to trust whatever daft scheme the Doctor – any Doctor – came up with, so she took a deep breath and followed his instructions. There was a crackle of electricity, the smell of burnt flesh, and both the Doctor and Stacy gave gutteral cries and collapsed to the floor. But he was on his hands and knees a second later, pulling a stethoscope from his pocket and checking her heart. Satisfied with the result, he dropped back down, rolling onto his back and breathing hard. Rose knelt beside him and rested her hands on his hearts, feeling the thrums, a bit faster than normal but reassuringly steady. "You okay?" she asked, voice soft with concern.

"Yeah."

"She okay?"

"She'll live."

"What happened?"

"I don't know exactly. The signal was somehow pulling tissue out of her. That creature that Adam is chasing, that came from her. The electrical shock reset her body's electrical impulses, interrupted the signal. Kind of like hitting a circuit breaker."

"I thought hair dryers had a safety feature to short out when they hit water."

"They do. I disabled it with the screwdriver."

"Then why didn't the shock kill her?"

"You know what electrical transformers do, like on a utility pole? Convert the high voltage down to something your appliances can handle? Well, I made myself into a transformer. Cut down the voltage, only passed enough on to her to give her a nasty shock but not a fatal one. Still, her heartbeat is a bit erratic. She'll need help, you'd best call an ambulance."

Rose pulled out her mobile, finishing the call just as Stacy's eyes fluttered open.

"Wha' happened?" the other woman slurred, struggling to sit up.

Rose gently pushed her back down and then took her undamaged hand. "Hush, lie still. Your hair dryer fell in the sink, gave you a bit of a jolt. There's an ambulance on the way. You'll be all right."

"I…I…" Stacy's eyes rolled around and then settled on the Doctor, who had pulled himself into a sitting position. "Wait, it was you gave me the shock. And there was this thing, this creature, came out of me tummy just like in that movie…" Her voice was starting to rise in hysteria.

The Doctor nodded knowingly. "Ah, the hallucinations."

That stopped her cold. "What hallucinations?"

"That's why Health and Safety is investigating. We've had several reports of hallucinatory side effects from the Adipose pills. That's probably what made you drop the hair dryer. Good thing we were right downstairs and found you so fast. Don't fret, you'll be all right once the drug works its way out of your system. I wouldn't take any more if I were you." Stacy watched him, wide-eyed, trying to reconcile his words with her memories. He pulled himself to his feet as Adam's voice wafted through the window, calling for him. "Unfortunately, Stacy, my friend and I are urgently needed elsewhere. But the ambulance will be here soon, they'll sort you out. Just lie there and stay calm." He grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her down the stairs and out the door.

"Are you sure we should be leaving her alone?" Rose protested.

"I hear the sirens – the ambulance will be here any minute. She's not in immediate danger. Best thing we can do for her now is to put a stop to this whole thing at the source. What news, Adam?"

"I lost it," he said, chagrined. "It moves pretty fast for a little blob, but I'd nearly caught it. But then a couple blokes pulled up in a black van, scooped it up, and took off. What happened with Stacy?"

"The fat creatures nearly pulled her apart," the Doctor said grimly, "But we managed to stop it for now. Still, it could happen again, to her or to others, unless we do something. A million customers in London already, and soon to spread to the nation and then the world. Sorry, Rose, but this is about more than finding your Doctor now."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

Some plot points and bits of dialogue respectfully borrowed from the episode "Partners in Crime" by Russell T Davies. With apologies to Donna Noble, who I'm sure will find the Doctor someday, just not today.

* * *

Ten left out a chuff of frustration when he caught sight of Nine basking in the morning sunlight on a bench opposite Adipose Industries. _Right, this is getting ridiculous. _The night before, his signal triangulator had pulled him from his contemplation of an Adipose customer's cat flap and led him several streets away. But just when he had reached the source of the signal, the sight of Adam chasing a van down the street had forced him to back off. And now it was happening again. He had planned to hack into the Adipose mainframe today. _That's going to be rather difficult if I have to dance around the Dream Team here_, he thought sourly. Although, he noted, currently the Dream Team seemed to consist of only one member. Maybe he had time to try a bit of misdirection.

He made as if to walk on past the bench, then did an exaggerated double-take and dropped onto the seat next to Nine. "Wait, I've seen you before. You were at Adipose yesterday, yeah? Some sort of inspector or something?"

Nine opened one eye lazily, comtemplated him for a minute, then flipped open the psychic paper wallet. Ten made a show of peering at the blank paper. "John Smith, Health and Safety. And you are?"

_Oh, right, time for a new alias._ "Uh…Martin Jones, sales rep at Adipose. All alone, are you? You had some friends with you yesterday, yeah?"

"They'll be along in a bit. I think they overslept. They had a bit of an exciting night."

Ten's stomach did an unpleasant flip-flop at the thought of what kind of nocturnal excitement two pretty humans could get up to. But then he decided that the sunbather next to him didn't look nearly jealous enough for it to have been _that_ exciting, and he relaxed. "Well, I for one am certainly glad Health and Safety is on the case. There is definitely something fishy going on here, and I'm glad someone is finally looking into it," he said emphatically.

At this, Nine deigned to open both eyes and sit up a little straighter. "What do you mean?"

The newly christened Martin lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I don't know exactly, just that things aren't what they seem. Adipose is a front for something; there's a lot more happening here than weight loss. Strange goings-on." He pulled the customer list from his pocket. "Here are some names of our clients. Might be worth you taking a look, talking with them."

Nine waved dismissively. "We have a list. Spoke to several of them last night. You're not half right about the strange goings-on, I'll tell you that right now."

_Well, that was not wholly unexpected_, Ten thought. It at least explained how Adam had happened to be in the right place at the right time the night before. Although, come to think of it, the timing was rather puzzling. Ten had had to hide in the shadows until one o'clock before he had seen the little white creature exiting Roger Davey's cat flap. And surely that had to be the norm; if aliens were emerging from their hosts during waking hours, there would be massive panic. So why had this one been so early? He gave himself a mental shake. There would be time to puzzle that out later; right now, he had to stay focused, accomplish his purpose and scram before Rose arrived. "Well, that's good, good, I'm glad you're on top of that. And what about the pendants? Have you looked into those too?" He pulled his out and swung it in front of Nine.

Nine frowned at it. "It's just a trinket. What do you think it does?"

The Doctor, being the Doctor, was about to launch into an in-depth exposition of his analysis, but remembered just in time that the whole point of this conversation was to get Nine out of the way by sending him off to do his own analysis. So with an effort, he contained himself to: "I don't know exactly what they are for, but they are a part of whatever is going on. They're more than just ornaments, that's for sure. Have you seen one?"

"Yes," the other Doctor said slowly. "Rose got one yesterday. I think I remember her playing with it just before – " His mouth snapped shut, but Ten could fill in the blank. _Just before the fat creature emerged._ As he suspected, the hidden circuitry could activate the process. He guessed that normally it was controlled remotely, but Rose's fiddling had somehow triggered the signal early. He hoped the customer was all right, both for her sake and for Rose's. He knew his Rose, knew how devastated she would be if she had caused irreparable harm, however unintentionally.

He was distracted from this train of thought by Nine bounding to his feet. The younger Doctor had obviously made the same connection between pendant and alien. "If you'll excuse me, Mister Jones, I have something I need to take care of." Ten watched his counterpart rush off away from Adipose, and smiled smugly as he headed into the office building. _Score one for the old man, you clever thing, you._

* * *

Many frustrating hours later, the Doctor was ready to reevaluate his self-assessment: maybe the clever thing would have been to walk away after all. He had spent all day trying to hack into the Adipose servers, but they were deadlocked, completely impervious to every trick in his very large repertoire.

Now that evening had arrived and the offices had emptied for the night, he decided to try another tack. He was willing to bet that the company president, a Miss Foster, was up to her eyeballs in the conspiracy. He made his way through the darkened corridors to her office, but found it deadlocked just as tightly as the computer. Frustrating again, but at least it went to confirm his theory.

He tried the roof next, and found a window washer's lift. Perfect – this could lower him to Foster's office. Hopefully she wouldn't have thought to deadlock the windows; even if she had, at least he would be able to see inside. _More than one way to skin a cat_, he thought, and then winced at the phrase. Honestly, humans could come up with some truly disgusting adages.

* * *

Rose wasn't an impatient person, really she wasn't. But she was so incredibly tired of just sitting there watching the Doctor work. They had spent all day in the TARDIS while he pulled apart the Adipose pendant. And once the business had closed for the evening, they had broken in – well, sonicked in, the Doctor had been careful to distinguish – and were currently crammed into a utility closet while he attempted to hack into the computer network. There was the occasional tool to be handed to him or wire to be held, but he had Adam for that, which left Rose twiddling her thumbs in utter boredom and exasperation. She agreed with him that their investigation of the alien plot had to take priority over the search for her Doctor, but that only made her more eager to do something, anything, to move things along. _I'm not doing any good here. Maybe if I poke around a bit…_ She stood and stretched. "Listen, I'm just going to go stretch my legs for a bit, yeah?"

"Fine, just don't go wandering off," the Doctor mumbled around a mouthful of sonic screwdriver. Rose rolled her eyes and headed for the stairs.

She made her way to the executive offices. The door to the president's office was locked – what she wouldn't give for the Doctor's screwdriver – but she decided to try her luck rummaging through the secretary's desk right outside. She hadn't been there more than five minutes when the area flooded with light, and there stood the president herself, flanked by two heavily armed bodyguards.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Health and Safety. I'm afraid you won't find anything interesting in there. My secretary hasn't the imagination to understand the true nature of our operation. No, if you want dirt, dear, you'll need to step into my office. Boys?"

Almost before she could blink, Rose found herself inside the office and tied to a chair. "I should warn you, my friend will come looking for me very soon. Trust me when I say, you don't want to make him angry."

Miss Foster laughed. "Well, I dare say we will deal with him if he does arrive. Now, what is your name?"


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

Some plot points and bits of dialogue respectfully borrowed from the episode "Partners in Crime" by Russell T Davies. With apologies to Donna Noble, who I'm sure will find the Doctor someday, just not today.

* * *

The Doctor parked the lift just below Miss Foster's window. He tried the window latch with the sonic screwdriver and gave a groan of frustration when it proved to be deadlocked. He was just about to press his face to the glass to see what could be seen, when suddenly the office door flew open and the lights came on. He dropped to the floor of the lift. There were voices, but they were too muffled for him to know what was said or even who was talking. He fished his stethoscope out of his pocket and carefully placed it at the very edge of the glass. And then he could clearly hear the voice he had been longing to hear, dreading to hear. "My name is Rose Tyler. Who are you?"

"I am Miss Foster."

Rose snorted. "Not sure I believe that one, but we'll go with it for now. So tell me, Miss Foster, are you an alien? Or are you just working with aliens?"

The Doctor had to choke back a laugh. That was his Rose, brave and defiant through and through.

Even Miss Foster sounded reluctantly impressed. "Well, you are a bit more clever than the average human, aren't you? Fine, you are correct, that is not my real name. But I did choose it well: Foster, as in foster mother. And these are my children." The Doctor risked a quick glance over the windowsill and saw, as expected, a little white blob standing on Miss Foster's desk. "My name is Matron Cofelia, Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet, Intergalactic Class."

"Nursery Fleet? Your children? So you're what, some sort of space nanny? And you are using humans as hosts for your breeding program?"

"My, you do catch on quickly. See, the Adipose Industries promotional literature is mostly correct. The pills do bind fat together. But rather than flush it from the human system, they galvanize the fat to form a body. These dear little creatures are Adiposians. After their breeding planet vanished, the Adiposian First Family contracted with me to ensure the birth of a new generation. I've traveled far and wide searching for a planet with as much fat as this one."

"Humans aren't your own personal incubators, Cofelia. I'm sure there are, I don't know, intergalactic laws or something against that. You nearly killed a woman last night."

"Yes, going to full parthenogenesis was a sad necessity once the birth had been observed. But as you are obviously aware, it was not successful. Actually, I am very interested in learning how exactly it was that you interrupted the process."

"The Doctor interrupted it," Rose replied, and this Doctor could hear in her voice the fierce pride in the other Doctor. It may not have been exactly directed at him, but it warmed his hearts anyway. "And he will dismantle your whole operation – that's putting it mildly. I already told you, you don't want to make him angry. One warning is all he'll give you, so you'd best take _my_ warning and walk away right now. Take whatever babies you've already gotten – we won't try to take them from you – and head back to your home planet."

"Oh, my dear, you are in no position to be making either threats or demands. You don't seem to understand the gravity of your situation." And then the Doctor heard a sound that made his blood run cold: the cocking of a gun. Without even thinking, he jumped to his feet and slammed the sides of his fists against the window. It had no effect on the window, but it did have the effect of making every head in the room swivel toward him.

Matron Cofelia recovered quickly from her surprise. "After him!" she shouted to her cohorts, and led the charge out of the office.

The Doctor hesitated only a moment to make sure that all the threats to Rose had departed, then shouted through the glass, "I'll come back for you!" and hit the Up button on the lift.

His pursuers were faster than he had expected. He had just climbed back onto the roof when they came bursting through the stairwell door. Deciding that down was his best escape route, he jumped back into the lift. "Come on, faster, faster," he urged the mechanism. But then he saw Matron Cofelia leaning over the parapet, the blue light of some sort of sonic device in her hand, and suddenly he was in free fall. "Not that fast!" He caught a glimpse of Rose's pale face as he flew past her window, just before he finally managed to aim the screwdriver steadily enough to activate the pulley breaks.

He had only a few seconds' grace to catch his breath and try to slow the pounding of his hearts. Then the intergalatic nanny applied her device to one of the cables, severing it. The Doctor grabbed onto the railing just in time, his feet scrabbling for purchase on a surface that was abruptly nearly vertical. He watched in horror as she reached for the second cable. The primal part of his brain was screaming at him not to loosen his death grip on the railing, but the rational part knew it was his only chance. With a convulsive effort, he lifted the hand holding the screwdriver, flipped the setting, and shot a sonic pulse at her. She screamed, and the device flew from her hand. The Doctor watched his salvation falling towards him, arched his back, reached far backwards, so far that he could feel his grip on the railing starting to slip, and caught the sonic… pen, he decided it was. Object in hand, he embraced the railing with both arms and gave himself a moment to recover.

He was directly below Rose's window. And with Cofelia's pen, he would be able to override the deadlock and get in. But the thought of seeing Rose face to face was almost as terrifying as his near-fall. He needed a bit of a pep talk. _She doesn't know about regeneration yet_ – he may have forgotten this adventure at Adipose, but he certainly hadn't forgotten the shock on her face when he stood before her for the first time in this body – _so there is absolutely no way she will suspect that you are anyone other than Martin Jones, sales rep. As long as you don't do anything…Time Lordy. You can do this. For her sake, you _have_ to do this._ He took a deep breath, reached overhead to unlock the window, tucked the two sonic devices in his pocket safely out of sight, and then pulled himself hand over hand up the cable until he was high enough to climb in.

* * *

Matron Cofelia had been gazing down beatifically at the Adiposian child when a face briefly appeared in the window, so she missed it. But Rose caught it out of the corner of her eye. It was gone in an instant, but an instant was all she needed. She nearly laughed with relief. Finally, after the years of waiting, after the days of searching and hoping, she was back where she belonged. Well, not exactly where she belonged – there was still a wall and several gun-toting villains between them. But now that there were two Doctors on the case, all the villains in the world would only amount to a minor inconvenience. Her fear at her current predicament melted away.

The joy bubbling within her made her feel particularly magnanimous, and she tried, Doctor-like, to give the nanny an out. But Cofelia reacted about as well as the bad guys usually did in these situations, and then one of her thugs decided to show the iron behind the velvet threat by cocking his gun, and that was when the Doctor put in a sudden appearance.

In a flash, she was alone, except for the Doctor outside, staring at her, palms pressed flat against the glass. She silently cursed the bonds that kept her from reaching out to him, but tried to let her face radiate her happiness. He yelled that he would return for her – as if she could possibly doubt it – and then ascended out of sight.

But Rose was never one to wait passively for rescue. She rocked herself onto her feet, awkwardly bent double by the seat, and staggered over to the desk to search for something to cut her restraints. She glanced up at the window just in time to see the Doctor plummet past. Her heart leapt into her throat, and then threatened to climb out of her mouth a few seconds later when the frayed end of one of the cables shot by. _So help me, if she has hurt him, she will learn that the Oncoming Storm has nothing on the Bad Wolf._

She had just gotten her hands on a pair of scissors and was awkwardly attempting to saw at the ropes around her wrists when the window opened and what was surely the most glorious sight in the universe – in any universe – climbed through. "Oh thank God, you're alive!"

He gave her a familiar cheeky grin. "I'm a bit harder to kill than that. Told you I'd come back for you. Let's see what we have here." She expected him to sonic her bonds, but instead he took the scissors from her hand and cut through them. It was a slightly longer process. "You're Rose Tyler, I presume?" he asked as he worked.

The question was so unexpected, she had no idea what to say, so she said nothing. He continued, "I heard you saying that to Miss Foster– well, Matron Cofelia, I guess I should say. My name is Martin Jones, by the way."

Of all the surreal things that had happened to her since she first met the Doctor, this had to be right up at the top. "Wait, you're Martin Jones? The whistleblower? The one that talked to the Doctor this morning?" she asked incredulously, as she felt the ropes give way.

"Oh, John Smith is a doctor, is he? Yep, that was me. We can chat later, but for now I think we'd best run before the thugs get back here." He made an abortive gesture, as if he had started to reach for her hand and then thought better of it, and then turned and ran.

Her body followed him out of long habit, but her mind was racing in another direction. Why hadn't he used the sonic screwdriver? Why had he given her an alias? Why was he acting as if he didn't know her? And then it suddenly hit her. He had seen three faces that he recognized from his past, and assumed that they _were _his past. _Of course, why wouldn't he have done?_ And being the Doctor, he was trying his hardest to protect the timeline, to protect her.

She opened her mouth to tell him the truth. But before the words could come out, Matron Cofelia was standing in front of them, flanked by her guards. "That is far enough."

The Doctor skidded to a halt, Rose nearly crashing into him. For once, he had no babbling speech designed to delay and confuse his opponent; he just reached into his suit pocket, and an ear-splitting noise filled the air. Four of the five people in the room doubled over, clutching at their ears, and this time he did grab Rose's hand, pulling her after him with a cry of "Allons-y!"

"What was that sound?" she gasped as they ran.

"No idea," he lied glibly, "Maybe we set off the burglar alarm. Listen, we need to get down to the basement. There's a utility closet down there where we can try to gain access to the computer system. Now that her cover has been blown, she's going to try to birth as many of those babies as she can, as quickly as she can. And according to what you said, when she tried that last night, someone nearly died."

Rose hesitated, once more about to tell him the truth, but then decided that trying to explain who she was and where she had come from would cause confusion and take precious time that they didn't have. Better to stick to the urgent matter at hand, and clear up misapprehensions later. So she said only, "My friends are already down there, trying to hack in."

"And how's that going for them?" he asked dryly.

"Not so well, when I left."

"Oh, but wait!" he said, as if a thought had just occurred to him, although Rose was pretty sure that was not the case. "I caught this thing when Cofelia dropped it. Maybe he can use it." He pulled something from his pocket.

She peered at it as best she could while at a dead run. It looked almost like the sonic screwdriver, but not quite. "What is it?"

"Not sure," he lied again. "But she used it to manipulate the lift controls and sever the cable. If I were a gambling man, I would be willing to bet that your Doctor could use it to override the security on the computer."

Rose bit back a smile. From Martin Jones, sales rep, that would have seemed an absurd leap of logic. But from the Doctor, it was certain knowledge.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Sadly, I have no claim on Doctor Who and make no profit from it.

Some plot points and bits of dialogue respectfully borrowed from the episode "Partners in Crime" by Russell T Davies. With apologies to Donna Noble, who I'm sure will find the Doctor someday, just not today.

* * *

The Doctor and Adam looked up, startled, as Rose and Martin burst into the closet. "Oi, I told you not to wander off! Where have you been?"

"Unraveling an alien conspiracy," she replied nonchalantly. "Doctor, you remember Martin Jones."

"Nice to see you again, Doctor Smith. I got this off of Matron Cofelia – Miss Foster. Do you know what to do with it?" Martin said all in one breath, thrusting the sonic pen into the Doctor's hands. The latter studied it for a minute and then set to work on the computer while Rose gave him a rundown of what she had learned from the nanny.

She had just finished her explanation when a computerized voice announced, "_Inducer activated. Initiating emergency parthenogenesis._"

"Does that mean what I think it means?" whispered Adam.

"I think there are about to be one million Stacy Campbells," the Doctor replied grimly as lights began flashing on the computer tower. "The sonic pen gave me access to the system, but I still need a way of blocking the activation signal. Think!" He ran his hands through his cropped hair, even as Martin did the same with his wild mane.

"What if…" Martin began, but the Doctor interrupted.

"I've got it, the pendant!" He pulled the object from his pocket triumphantly. "See, Martin, you were right, these are much more than ornaments. I can wire this into the system like so," he explained as he matched words to actions, "And use it to override the signal." He rocked back on his heels, surveying his handiwork with satisfaction, and the others all grinned at each other. But the good feelings lasted only a moment, until the lights began flashing more insistently and the Doctor yelled, "Nonononono!"

"What is it?" cried Rose.

"She's doubled the signal! She's overriding the override! We don't have enough power to block it! I can't…" But at this point the Doctor trailed off in astonishment, because Martin had reached around him and wired his own pendant in right next to the Doctor's. "Wha–? How did–? That did it, you stopped the signal. How did you know what to do?"

"Oh," Martin shrugged modestly, "I didn't really, I just copied what I saw you doing."

The Doctor gaped at him, and then noticed Rose behind Martin, pointing and mouthing, "_My Doctor."_ His flabbergasted gaze flicked between the two several times before he managed to snap his jaw closed and give Martin his broadest smile. "Right, good thing we have you along, Martin Jones, well done."

They all looked back at the computer as a new noise issued out of it. Rose heard Martin draw a sharp breath at the same moment that the Doctor did, but pretended not to notice. "What is it, Doctor?"

"Oh, she's in trouble now! Come on, to the roof!"

* * *

They arrived on the roof just in time to see Matron Cofelia ascending after the Adiposian babies in the blue light of a tractor beam. The Doctor tried his best to talk her down, to convince her that her employers were planning to tie up loose ends by eliminating their accomplice, but she disregarded him right up to the moment that the beam shut off and she plummeted to the earth.

Martin found that it was somehow his shoulder that Rose had buried her head in when she flinched away from the gruesome sight. He was a bit surprised by this turn of events, but certainly wasn't about to question it or push her away, although he did keep a wary eye out for any jealous Time Lords in the vicinity. "We didn't save her," he heard himself murmuring a bit brokenly.

Rose lifted her head. "We did what we could. She chose not to save herself. It's not your responsibility," she said firmly.

There was a moment of silence while they all absorbed the events, and then the Doctor grinned. "But you did just save a million people, Martin. Plus Rose, which has got to count for almost as much. Not bad for a day's work, not bad at all. I'd say he deserves a reward, wouldn't you, Rose?"

She smiled up at Martin wolfishly. "Oh, most certainly, he does!" And before he knew what was happening, she had pulled him in by his lapels and pressed her mouth enthusiastically to his.

He froze, unable to respond, voices clamoring inside his head. There was the one that said that nothing this wonderful could possibly happen to him, that what appeared to be Rose was probably a shape-shifter who would morph into a piranha the next instant. Then there was the one that told him to be ready to flee the wrath of the Ninth Doctor as soon as Rose was out of his arms. And a third insisted nastily, _It's not really _you_ she is kissing at all, it's the pretty human she thinks you to be._

When she finally pulled away, an eternity later and much too soon, he was afraid to see her hurt by his lack of response. But she was unfazed, grinning up cheekily at his stupefaction.

"Rose, you… I mean, that… I… What about…" He cast a nervous glance toward the Doctor, fully expecting to have to dodge a flying fist. But oddly, the other man was wearing a daft smile, which only added to Martin's confusion.

"Oh, don't worry about him," Rose said dismissively. "He doesn't mind who I kiss. He knows I don't belong to him." He did know that, Martin thought, had always known that, but it didn't mean he didn't mind. She continued, "Anyway, who would choose a moody old alien when they could have a pretty young human?"

That echoed so painfully his own internal voice. _Who indeed_, he thought glumly. He wasn't sure why the idea bothered him so much. It wasn't as if he could keep this version of Rose with him anyway. She would go on traveling with Nine, and eventually with him, right up until the day he lost her. He couldn't snatch her away from her future, his past. _And she may not love her Doctor now,_ he tried to console himself, _but she will do. She told you as much at Bad Wolf Bay._ But the large part of him that was self-loathing insisted that she couldn't possibly have meant _that _kind of love, the kind he had for her.

He was distracted from all this turmoil by Nine's laughter. "Well, go on, answer her. Might sound like a rhetorical question, but it's not, you know."

Apparently, Martin's brain had decided to take a vacation, because all he could manage in response was an owlish blink at the Doctor and a stupid "What?"

Rose cupped his face in her palms, and he couldn't stop himself from closing his eyes and leaning into her touch. Blimey, it was going to tear out both his hearts to leave her again, but at least this time he would carry the memory of her kiss, of her warm hands against his cool skin. She was speaking, and he forced himself to focus on her words. "I asked who would choose a moody old alien. The answer is: I would. I do. Every time."

His eyes flew open at this, found hers, but once again all he could say was "What?"

She laughed, a sparkling, joyous sound, and glanced over at Nine. "See what kind of eloquence you have to look forward to in your next incarnation?" She beamed up at Ten in gentle amusement. "I am not your past, you plum. I am very much your present. And these two aren't your anything. They don't even belong here, except that they were kind enough to give me a lift."

Her words finally cut through his mental fog, and he caught her hands in his, scarcely daring to hope that he had actually understood her. "You…you know who I am? You are _my_ Rose?"

"Of course I know you, Doctor. And yes, I am your Rose, fresh from Pete's World."

He had no words, just pulled her to him in a crushing embrace until she began squirming and a laughing, muffled voice said, "Easy, Doctor! Human here. No respiratory bypass."

"Oh, right, sorry!" He released her from his arms but took her hands again. "Oh, but wait! The universes, the walls between…"

"…Are in no danger. I promise, I'll tell you the whole story of how I got here later, but for the moment, just believe me when I say that everything is fine."

"And your family?"

"Still back in the other world."

"You left them?" he asked wonderingly. It was one thing for her to choose him in the heat of the moment at Canary Wharf; it was quite another for her to make a deliberate and thought-out decision.

"Yes. And I won't pretend that it won't hurt. But it hurt worse to be without you," she told him quietly.

He closed his eyes to let the wave of emotions wash over him, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight against his side, and turned towards Nine. "And you – you agreed to bring her back to me?" He couldn't imagine anyone who had known Rose for more than five minutes letting her go without a fight.

His counterpart seemed to read his thoughts and gave him a compassionate smile. "Like she said, she doesn't belong to me. Another time, another place, maybe I would have battled you to the death over her, but I knew from the start where she was meant to be."

"Thank you," Ten said simply, his tone conveying far more than the words ever could.

"Right," said Nine brightly, "Well, Adipose problem solved, star-crossed lovers reunited – I think our work here is done, Adam. You know I never like cleaning up the mess afterwards, so we'll leave you two to that."

Rose pulled away from Ten to hug the two men and whisper her gratitude and her goodbye, and then they were gone, leaving Rose and her Doctor alone on the roof. He stood for a long moment, just basking in her presence, wonderment on his face. Then he reached out his hand and she took it in hers, and he marveled at how well they fit together. "Right, back together again! Next stop: anywhere you want. TARDIS is just around the corner. Come along." He turned to go, tugging her after him, but was brought up short when she didn't move.

"No," she said, so softly that he barely heard.

He turned back, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

She was staring down at her feet, looking shy but very determined. "Before we set off again, before we get caught up in mad adventures where we don't have time to think, let alone talk, I just need to know. I need to know where we stand. Because I told you how I feel that day at Bad Wolf Bay, and then we got cut off. I just need you to…to define us."

Had it been only yesterday that he had told himself he wouldn't waste a second chance if it were offered? Now that the second chance was impossibly right in front of him, he panicked. His instinct told him to run, fast and far. It wasn't fear of commitment – in his hearts, he was already committed to her for life. It wasn't fear of the pain of eventually losing her – he was sure that losing her in the distant future to old age could hurt no worse than losing her right now to his own stupidity. It was fear that he was not enough, that he couldn't possibly be the man she needed, she deserved. He feared that someday he would do something to shatter her image of him, that she would come to see him as he saw himself in his darkest moments. He feared her disillusionment.

He managed a strained smile and tried for a light-hearted tone, although he knew he wasn't entirely successful. "Bit foolish to wait till your ride has already left before you ask that. What if you don't like my answer?"

He expected a cheeky retort, but she remained serious, although she did manage to look up and meet his eyes through her lowered lashes. "It doesn't matter if I like it or not. I'm not giving you an ultimatum. I am with you forever, unconditionally. And I'm not trying to make you say something you don't feel, or feel something you don't want to. If you say we're mates, then we're mates. I just need to know what to expect. I need you to tell me how you see us."

This was his out, he thought with relief. One word, and their relationship was back to what it had been. He could do mates. He already had several years' experience being Rose's best friend. It was something he knew he could succeed at. It was safe. It was a role he was confident he could fill. It was…_so much less than she deserved_, he sighed inwardly. After all she had done for him on their travels together, after all she had sacrificed to return to him, what Rose deserved was for him to face his fears and do his very best to be what they both wanted him to be, to give her the relationship they both wanted to have. He still wasn't convinced that he could succeed, but he could certainly try his hardest. It terrified him more than an entire fleet of Daleks, but for her sake – and honestly, for his own too – he would do this. He just had to get the words past the tightness in his throat.

But apparently he had waited too long to come to this conclusion, because Rose was talking again now, running her gob as if – well, as if she were him. He was a bit confused. Rose wasn't usually a babbler. "Listen, I know you're thinking that I'm going to go all domestic on you. But honestly, this doesn't have to be a big, deep, complicated discussion. Just a word or two is all I need, and then we never have to talk about it again. And I know that the last time you saw me, I was all emotional and crying and stuff, but really, that was the worst day of my life, well, the second worst day, right up there with Canary Wharf, and you know that I'm not usually like that. And don't worry, I won't hold you to whatever you were going to say that day. I mean, for one thing, you thought you were never going to see me again, and people say all kinds of things when they think it's for the last time. And then for another, a long time has passed. Things have changed. Maybe you've had other companions since then."

He grasped at one phrase from the torrent of words washing past him. "I did have another companion for a while. Martha, her name was, Martha Jones."

"Oh," she said in a voice that seemed to him uncharacteristically small. He couldn't imagine where the babbling had come from, let alone why it had suddenly switched off; perhaps she was having a delayed reaction to the dimension hopping. "Wait," she was continuing, "Martha Jones…as in Martin Jones? It was her name that you used?"

He gave a sheepish smile. "Well, John Smith was taken, so I had to think fast." She looked away, and he thought he saw some moisture in her eyes. He didn't know what to make of that either; maybe she was already second-guessing her decision to leave her family for him. His throat clenched at that thought, but he soldiered on. "Anyway, you would have liked her. She was a lot like you, actually. Brave and clever and didn't put up with much guff from me." That earned him a wan smile. "We got into some tight scrapes, she and I, but she always stuck by me. Loyal to a fault, she was. Fancied me, too."

With every word, he could see Rose deflating more and more, shrinking in on herself, and it finally hit him why, what she was thinking, where she imagined his story was leading. She had promised to stick with him forever, regardless of his answer, and she meant it. But that didn't mean that the wrong answer wouldn't break her heart. _You're making a right hash of this, you are,_ he chided himself, and rushed to get through the rest of his explanation. "But eventually she gave up and went home. Because she knew that I could never fancy her…" He caught her chin and gently lifted it to make sure she would look him in the eyes for this part. "Not when I was so caught up in fancying you."

In an instant, the light returned to her eyes, and she threw her arms around his neck. He willingly returned the embrace, but leaned back out of reach of her kiss. "Wait just a minute. Before the universe conspires against us again, I want to say this properly – no more hinting or implying or leaving you to infer." He took a deep breath and then plunged ahead, "What I wanted to say that day, what I want to say now, is: Rose Tyler, I love you. Now and forever, and from the bottom of my hearts."

The blinding light of her smile chased away the last shadow of fear and self-doubt. He grinned down at her. "There, I've said it, and the universe didn't implode, and the walls of reality didn't collapse! So now, Rose Tyler, you may snog me to your heart's delight."

Now it was her leaning away, eyebrows arched. "Oh, may I? The great Time Lord grants permission, does he?" she asked, but with a teasing tone that assured him that she was not truly offended.

"Quite right, that was poorly worded. How about this instead: Rose Tyler, I humbly request permission to snog you to _my_ hearts' delight." He winked at her, and leaned in close to whisper, "But I must warn you, I have two of them."

"I think I can handle it," she murmured.

And, as it turned out, she could.


End file.
